Unseating Avril

Four new pop queens are ready to take over the throne

May 04, 2004|By Allison Stewart Special to the Tribune.

JoJo hasn't even released her first album yet and already she is being called the next Avril Lavigne. "People compare me to her a lot," says the 13-year-old singer, whose debut album, "JoJo," comes out next month. "They call me the 'angry young girl.' I get that a lot."

When she started out, Lavigne was one of just a few angry young girls in a bubbly, Britney Spears world. These days, she's got a lot of competition. From up-and-coming acts like JoJo to more established stars like Michelle Branch, it seems there's never been a better time to be a young female artist with something to say.

A lot of the credit for this goes to Lavigne, 19, whose new album, "Under My Skin," comes out May 25. She helped start a trend away from cookie-cutter female pop toward a more personal, and often more angry, sound. Most of the new crop of girl singers have followed in her path, releasing tough-talking albums that are so personal, they almost feel like peeking inside a diary.

Fefe Dobson's new, self-titled debut may be the most outspoken record of all. "Everything [on the disc] has some sort of connection to my life," says the 18-year-old singer, whose real name is Felicia.

"Fefe Dobson" is an intensely intimate pop-punk disc that combines the singer's love of Michael Jackson and Nirvana. Dobson talks about everything from growing up without a father to the problems of peer pressure. "When I sing lines like, 'Daddy, daddy/Why did you break your promises to me?' I get a really strong reaction," Dobson says. "Kids can really relate to it."

Though singer-songwriter Toby Lightman's new record, "Little Things," was produced by one of Lavigne's former collaborators, the disc is full of catchy pop-soul songs that sound more like Sheryl Crow. Lightman, 25, may not have much in common with Lavigne musically, but both artists share a similar determination.

Like Lavigne, who started singing almost before she could walk, Lightman knew what she wanted at an early age. She has played the violin since she was 6 years old, something that didn't always make her the most popular kid in her class.

"When I was playing violin and taking it to school, it wasn't exactly cool," she says. "It wasn't like being a cheerleader or something."

Classmates teased Lightman for being geeky, but she considers it a learning experience. "It taught me listen to myself, basically," she says.

Another major difference between teen stars before and after Lavigne is that most new girl singers like Lightman are reluctant to pose in revealing outfits. Thanks to her influence, and the influence of artists like Vanessa Carlton, 23, showing too much skin is out.

"All the photos I've taken have been tasteful," says JoJo, whose new single, "Leave," is currently in rotation on TRL. "If you show a lot of skin when you're 13, when you're older, when you're 16 or 21, what do you have left to show?"

Seventeen-year-old singer-songwriter Katy Rose doesn't show a lot of skin either, but her debut disc, "Because I Can," is pretty revealing.

Rose's first single, "Overdrive," deals with growing up too fast in Hollywood, which might not seem like a big deal until you realize that Rose co-produced her record with her father, a longtime musician who used to take her on tour with him when she was growing up.

Rose says her father didn't mind her more-mature-than-average subject matter. "I don't think he was surprised that I'd taken in so much so young," she says.

"Because I Can" sounds a little like Lavigne and a lot like Fiona Apple, but Rose says she wouldn't mind if the Lavigne comparisons stopped. "There's just not that much that we have in common," she says.

Other artists, like Dobson, say that being known as the new Avril Lavigne isn't such a bad thing.

"It doesn't bug me at all," Dobson says. "We're actually good friends. We laugh about it all the time, because in the end, we're totally different."